A secret TPPA Transparency Annex on Pharmaceutical products has
been posted on Wikileaks, exposing the second prong
of attack on Pharmac alongside the intellectual property chapter. Together
medicines will become more expensive. John Key said NZers won’t pay any more than $5
for prescriptions under TPPA; that would mean more money into the health budget
(not likely!), fewer meds are subsidised, or money goes from another part of
the health budget to pay for meds. The only winner is Big Phrma. Jane Kelsey argues the real aim is to stop
Pharmac setting a precedent for other countries. “New Zealanders’ health and
our taxpayer dollars are being held ransom in a much bigger game”. See expert
analysis of the leaked Annex by Dr Deborah Gleeson, Jane Kelsey, and Public Citizen.

The proposed Ministerial meeting at the end of May in Guam was ultimately cancelled, because some countries
(not NZ!) refused to meet until the US President has Fast Track authority to
stop Congress picking their deal apart. Instead ministers met over breakfast at Apec in the
Philippines.

Huge defeat for Obama as
US House Democrats Say No Fast Track

A Bill to grant Fast Track has to be approved by both the US
Senate and House. It got through the US Senate two weeks ago, after failing at
first attempt. But almost all the Democrats in the House are opposed. Some
tricky procedural ploys last Friday saw one part squeak through but the second
part fail, which was fatal for the Bill. See Mike Hosking’s rant on self-serving US
politicians and the virtues of secrecy and TPPA. Obama and his new BFFs the
Republicans will keep trying again over the next couple of weeks. They are now
planning a vote on Friday our time by linking Fast Track to a Bill on
retirement plans for firefighters! Their time is running out. No fast track, no
ministerial, no political trade-offs, no TPPA!

Chile refuses to be pushed
around by US

Chile's foreign minister recently spent two hours answering
questions in Parliament, and promised "we will not take new commitments on
intellectual property ... or modify our internal legislation". If the US
insisted on "”interfering in our regulatory sovereignty" by refusing
to certify Chile’s compliance "the agreement will not enter into
force". All NZ gets from Trade Minister Groser is weasel words and ‘trust me’.

Fighting Foreign Corporate
Control Bill

The FFCC Bill is yet to have its first reading, and it may still
be some time before this takes place. We are planning to have an action outside Parliament on the day the Bill
has its first reading, but at this stage we do not have any clearer idea of
when this might be. Watch this space!

Select Committee Report on
Korea FTA buried

The Select Committee’s report was quietly tabled
in parliament on a Friday afternoon. The Greens and NZ First opposed the FTA
because of ISDS; Labour hedged its bets on ISDS and supported the FTA. But it
looks like the report won’t get debated. National is determined to avoid any
debate on ISDS, which suggests the thousands of submissions have shaken them.
Burying the report also confirms that Parliament has no say over these deals.

Three more Councils
endorse TPPA resolution

In another victory for TPP Action Palmerston North has become
the 10th council to adopt the TPP 12-point resolution, following from Upper
Hutt City Council and Kapiti Coast District Council also in April. These ten
councils and their territories represent a majority of NZ’s population. TPP
Action has since presented to the Long Term Plans (LTP) of Hastings, Rotorua,
and South Wairarapa District Councils, the Carterton District Council LTP and
the South Wairarapa District Council’s Maori Standing Committee. Each Council
appears to be taking the request to adopt the resolution seriously. Next up is
Tauranga City Council, whose meeting on 23rd June will have a report
on TPPA from Council Staff for decision.

TISA leaks threaten
deregulation to public services

Recent leaked documents from another proposed
mega-deal, the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), reveal new far-reaching threats
to the government’s right to make policy and regulate services. Jane Kelsey says it would lock in the failed
model of ‘light-handed’ and ‘risk-tolerant’ model of regulation that “brought
us finance company collapses, leaky buildings, the Pike River mining disaster
[and] elder abuse in our rest homes.’ FIRST Union’s Robert Reid said TISA would mean
“a free pass to the big banks to operate on a global scale with minimal
regulation”; with stricter secrecy than even the TPPA “it’s the kind of
backdoor deal that would make even FIFA proud”.

What exactly is
‘Grossing’?

A scathing article has by American policy
analyst Mary Bates has said that NZ Trade Minister Tim Groser’s
‘counter-productive, undiplomatic sledging’ has led to a new slang term in
Washington, ‘grossing’. The term came out of Groser’s attacks on the Canadian
system of dairy supply management, comparing it to the Soviet Union.

This morning’s leak of documents from the highly secretive
Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) negotiations are a backdoor to widespread
deregulation, according to FIRST Union General Secretary Robert Reid.

“The documents demonstrate that the government is trying to
lock New Zealanders out from deciding how services are regulated, including in
FIRST Union’s coverage areas of finance and transport, as well as
telecommunications, post and the professions.”

“‘Liberalisation of trade in services’ is trade-speak for
limiting government influence over the services that New Zealanders use every
day. The NZ government’s involvement in these negotiations shows utter contempt
for the democratic process, giving foreign investors and corporates
disproportionate control over how services are regulated.”

“In the finance sector this means a free pass to the big
banks to operate on a global scale with minimal regulation, driving down costs
and employment conditions through off-shoring. Banks are solely concerned about
maximising their profits. They take no responsibility for financial instability
and crisis, leaving working class people to bear the brunt of the losses.”

“For the transport sector, service liberalisation will be a
gift to large transport companies, driving down safety and employment
conditions while creating barriers for government investment management or
operation of national transport infrastructure.”

“TISA is not an economic development plan, it’s the kind of
backdoor deal that would make even FIFA proud.”

“The secret Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI)
negotiations from the 1990s fell to pieces as information about its potential
impacts started to come to light. FIRST Union categorically opposes secret
‘trade’ negotiations and calls on the government to make all negotiations
public immediately so democracy can take its course.”